Les Bowen

STAFF WRITER

Les Bowen has covered the Eagles since 2002. Before that, he covered the Flyers for 13 years. He came to the Daily News from the Charlotte Observer in May 1983, just as the Sixers were winning the NBA championship. He thought, "Gosh, this sort of thing must happen all the time here."

MOBILE, Ala. -- With Michael Vick turning 32 in the offseason and Vince Young expected to move on in free agency, the Eagles might very well look for a quarterback somewhere in the early rounds, especially since they have an extra second-round pick, courtesy of the Kevin Kolb trade with Arizona.

Stanford's Andrew Luck is expected to become the top overall pick in the draft, and Baylor's Heisman Trophy winner, Robert Griffin III, is expected to go soon after, long before the Eagles draft 15th overall. In any case, neither Luck nor Griffin will be in Mobile this week, and what looked like an extraordinary QB draft class lost a little luster when Oklahoma's Landry Jones and Southern Cal's Matt Barkley decided to stay in school.

But there are Senior Bowl QBs who could interest the Birds, particularly in the second round or later. They include Arizona's Nick Foles, Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden, San Diego State's Ryan Lindley, and Michigan State's Kirk Cousins.

Foles, a transfer from Michigan State, hails from a school that has never produced a prominent NFL quarterback. But he's 6-5, 240, and is said to possess excellent tools.

Weeden, 6-4, 220, is intriguing in that some observers think he might be a first-round talent, but he almost certainly won't be drafted there, at age 28, having spent five years playing minor league baseball. Eagles fans no doubt will draw a parallel with Watkins, the ex-firefighter. Lindley is a 6-4, 230-pounder whose draft stock suffered this year when he managed to complete only 52.5 percent of his passes.

Cousins, 6-3, 205, had an excellent year and could be on the rise from his early third-to-fourth round projection.